Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Arawak
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Here's a to-scale image of the moon system we are centered around.

Not shown are the other tiny worlds I have not added yet since they'd either be Ezra without the "dead city world" trait or just asteroids.

Since even in this star system where there are five or more advanced biosphere hosting worlds (there is four in the Gabriel system... Which is where I want most people to center themselves as the other biospheres are not in the human habitable zone and require much more exotic natives), the majority of worlds are still dead rocks. Admittedly, many of the worlds have some form of activity on them in the world of mining from the ever present drones (be it the native ancient drones or the mining machines of humans) and you never know what is hiding underground...
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Liotrent
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Finalized version of the application with minor edits here and there.

Name: Mantopolitis sp.
Common name: Mantids for some humans (This can vary for other species, races, and civilizations)
Class: Alien Bug Species
Description:

During the first expedition to the moon of Ezekiel, a desert planet with low gravity conditions, and light fauna covering its sandy surface, they encountered alien life in the form of rather large insectoids near mounds of sand and rock in the shrubbery’s and coasts of Ezekiel’s surface.

From first impressions, the weary explorers thought of them as primitive, and animalistic, it is only later they find that they are quite docile when approached, they express signs of curiosity, however none of it aggressive, as they entered the mound, they were surprised to the large cavernous underground that they possessed, it was an underground city almost, highly organized and partitioned for different levels.

[Behavior & Culture]

The insects don’t seem to mind until they get interrupted on the way to a task, assigned by the Colony’s caste superiors, they don’t seem to communicate through telepathic means, on closer observation, they seem to communicate via radio transmission using implants at the base of their skull. Even if this was the case, insectoids worked in unison, efficiently, and without stoppage, and when scientists jammed the area from a distance, the silence was replaced with loud clicks and chirps, and the smell of the air changed from dry, dusty and salty to humid musk, perhaps vocal and Chemical communication, their unison and efficiency dropped by a slight margin as they were slower to react to these other methods of communication. It is thought that different tasks use different chemical and vocal commands, thus garnering a different response.

Their intelligence is quite surprising considering the insects have knowledge of their own biology to be able to plant implants, but as well as the intelligence to plant it into the center of their brain responsible for smell and sound, without impairing their regular senses. However, unlike humans, they dispose their dead in piles outside of the mound, the explorers, as of this moment are still barred from entering deeper into the lower levels of their colonies.
Note however that the city itself is made up of many spires, only some of which reaching the surface, perhaps for ventilation or gathering moisture from the air as some show some sort of pipeline running down below. Despite not burying their dead, their culture is quite interesting, they show levels of intelligence that are comparable to humans, such as large sculptures, and some sort of worship to a god like being, perhaps the queen/s of the colony, it is unknown whether they are polygamous, or if they perhaps combine colonies into their own making a sort of super colony, or some other sort of arrangement that binds colonies into some sort of alliance, like treaties.

Their food sources are limited to the shrubbery above however, large columns of warrior caste and worker caste members leave the colony in different directions presumably to hunt or gather, the shrubbery in the surrounding area shows signs of herbivory, however from studies of their remains this is not shown to be their main diet, it seems they feed on some type of fungus, and other protein rich organisms. Which implies they have figured out agriculture of some kind, similar to leaf cutter ants.


[Caste & Biology]

Physically they look like the mantises of earth, however, their biology is perfectly made for their harsh environment, a respiratory system that relies on creating a vacuum to gather as much air as possible, a mouth filter for clean water, different sets of limbs for each caste to work specific tasks, antennae and various spines and hairs built for sensing changes in their environment, large eyes that can see into the infrared spectrum, large muscular bodies for digging and fighting, and other such things, their exoskeleton also has an inner part that is used for structural support and weight distribution so that the weight of the exoskeleton doesn’t affect impair the functions of their organs.

Their front facing limbs can vary, they can have four front facing limbs and most of the time they have a pair of front facing limbs that have hands and not digging claws, or large sword like appendages, though this can sometimes happen.

Their dead gave an idea to how their caste is structured, with scientists classifying it into three main categories.

-The Leadership Caste
This caste classification belongs to queens, brood lords, and Super Majors. These are the only ones in the colony to have been classified under this caste.

The queens:
They are quite large, bulbous in physique, however, they are the driving force and the beating heart of the colony, they give commands to all other castes, and those castes then pass down command to lower castes, thus maintaining the order of the colony. She is responsible for laying eggs, and leading the colony.

The Brood Lords:
they can easily be classified as kings, but unlike ants they serve another purpose, and that is to protect the queen or lead in place of the Super Majors if they are absent in the colony, thus making brood lords, larger than some of the largest warrior caste, being 8ft at most, and 3ft wide, their equipment is also heavier and less expendable. Though this comes at a price, due to their large size, their exoskeleton being heavy only covers a fraction of their overall size, though through analysis of the bodies, it is theorized, they can take a lot of punishment due to the injuries of some of these brood lords, this could be easily disputed that they died of these injuries though that is not what the evidence suggests. Their major blood vessels remain intact, they show no signs of pain receptors so there is no shock due to injury, and their major organs still seem rather functional, it is presumed that their thick muscle layer acts as some sort of cushion or extra layer of defense, thus leading to the atrophy of the exoskeleton as it was no longer needed through the process of their evolution.

The brood lords are responsible for mating with the queen, protecting the queen, and leading in place of the Super Majors thus their placement in this caste.

Super Majors:
they are the leaders of the expedition, the military mind, the brains of the army. These Super Majors coordinate the Army they serve as the tacticians and often a pivotal member of the colony if the colony is to survive competition with rival colonies. They are larger than your regular warrior, 6’5 standing tall as to official records of observation, they have hard exoskeletons, and longer antennae.

-Warrior Caste
This caste belongs to, regular warriors, Majors, Dragoons, Combat Technicians

Regular Warriors:
They average about 5’0ft, to 5’5ft as their name implies they are the backbone of the colonies offensive capabilities, they are often equipped lightly or not at all, due to their biological weapon, their scythes/sickle like limbs being usually enough for the job.

Dragoons:
These are regular warriors that are heavily equipped with a combat frame, as they are used for a chassis of a combat suit/walker that makes them 6’0ft tall, is usually equipped with regular canons, or repeating auto canons, they’re moderately armored, except for the back where the power unit is housed. Some Super Majors and Majors can be equipped with these as well, they can be 7’0-8’0ft at most

Majors:
These are what would classify as squad officers, in the warrior caste, in charge of small groups of units that can make decisions independently after receiving orders from super Majors, it is presumed that most if not all of the Mantis like insectoids are individual decision makers. They are at least 6’0 and have a more complex exoskeletal pattern than the Regular warriors, though even then it is hard to distinguish the two apart from size.

Combat Technicians:
They are in charge of the tech that comes into the battlefield, they repair any and all equipment that can possibly be repaired, if it cannot be repaired they assist in removing it in order for the other warrior castes to be able to fight effectively again, it is hypothesized that they also work with vehicles as evidences of large mechanical objects moving through a certain colony have been discovered, and unknown flying objects near colonies have been sighted but have not been officially documented as of this record. (OOC, Larger combat walkers, Artillery, Armored support vehicles, tanks, transports, various aircraft of different roles, etc.)

-Worker Caste
This belongs to Builders, Farmers, Nursers, and Engineers.
(OOC this caste is mostly based around what they do rather than their physiology, as having one strain do all the work, is easier on the queen than having 4 different strains do specialized work, this way the colony can just shift their roles to their needs)

Builders:
The name itself is enough to explain the worker caste role of builder, they build, dig, and assemble things for the colonies infrastructure to their industry.

Farmers:
Again self-explanatory, these are the ones that tend to the fungus in the colony’s depths, and keep the colony fed.

Nursers:
These workers take care of the eggs and the young, they look after them, tend to them, groom them, and nourish them by having a sort of second stomach for regurgitation of vital nutrients into the young.

Engineers:
These workers, are responsible for making technologies like walkers, and projectile weapons, they assemble the technical parts, and pass it down to the builders to assemble into the finish products

[Technology & Weaponry]

The technology they possess from what has been observed is quite sophisticated, far more advanced than what has been anticipated from such a primitive looking alien species. Armored combatants in powered infantry support walkers, and cybernetic augmentations.

Their weaponry however is quite similar to that of humans, using some sort of propellant for a projectile, however this is not the only weapon system they have, they also make use of a railgun that uses electro magnets to accelerate projectiles, it has been hypothesized that with the size and amount of power the fastest it can fire a projectile is from 1.5km/s to 2km/s though this is only used on their infantry combat walker, perhaps even on their vehicles.

Aside from their guns, they also have steel sleeves for their scythe like appendages, and even without these their physical bio-weaponry is quite devastating in melee having a thicker exoskeleton for support.

Their medical science is also quite advanced as with cybernetic augmentation came as well, functional prosthetics and nerve replacement, their underground homes are coated with some sort of liquid cleaning agent that is replaced every few weeks that help keep the colony as clean as possible, and all their sick go to the highest level to receive treatment, it is unclear what ailments these insects may have, perhaps parasites or some other common pathogens that they have grown to live with, at the very least from the bodies they’ve examined, most have died from old age, indicating that medical practices and cleanliness of their underground homes are excellent.

Their industry however seems primitive but has a basis for their society, some parts of their industry relies on automation, which has been observed in open areas of their mechanized factories, however it is believed that in the low gravity environment they should not have this much muscle which leads to the hypothesis that manual labor is used most often in the creation of their tools, prosthetics, and other such things, other members keep fit through sparring as war between colonies, or fighting hostiles is the norm on the sandy surface of Ezekiel, it’s harsh environment can lead to resilient organisms that are ruthless in their competition for food and water.

[Relationships with other colonies]

Interestingly, there are only two major colonies that have been discovered so far, with minor colonies aiding them.

It seems there may have been a civil war between these two Major colonies, but it is unconfirmed as they have never engaged each other directly. Their minor colonies, act as states for the Major colonies.

The two Major colonies have been given names;

Conquista and Imperia.

the Conquista are the main aggressors, in most conflicts, they treat their states as part of their colony, imperia on the other hand are the defenders in most conflicts, and treat their states as individual city states allowing them to do as they wish. In both cases the state colonies are quite well off. From the most conflicted areas of fighting the explorers gather that their rivalry has been a long one, many abandoned technology yet to be uncovered, the exoskeletal remains of many long dead individuals, and the damage that they have inflicted on each other are apparent from the damage to the exoskeletal frames, and their abandoned equipment.

(If anyone else wants to found a Mantopolitis colony Civ, they may or may not have to explain whether or not they are allied with or are part of either of the two Major colonies or is completely independent)

(This should suffice)

SEPARATE TOPIC


Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Oraculum
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Oraculum Perambulans in tenebris

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@Arawak
With the new world details, it would seem that Ezra is indeed the most appropriate location for what I have in mind. Would it be reasonable for a custodian base on it to contain a small subterranean artificial ecosystem (a primordial, extremely rudimentary one - say mid-Cambrian or thereabouts in terms of Earth equivalents)?

On a related note, should custodian drones have a definable purpose, or can their intent be something completely esoteric, known only to their vanished creators?
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Arawak
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@Oraculum
Ezra does indeed have such artificial ecosystems within.

As for drones you can define them regionally as you wish.

Around the system you have the common drones that have easily definable purposes (mining, monitoring the natives and interlopers, repairing ancient structures, carrying other drones, defending sealed habitats and the 'depths' etc.) while the custodian players can make more unique and/or esoteric drones.

IC-wise i'd expect most peoples to be used to the common drones, it'd be no more weird than seeing a bird fly overhead and they're remarkably quite and docile. Even shooting them yields no response (and if damaged enough, they just disintegrate into paste).
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Oraculum
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Excellent. I shall, then, have a complete sheet ready by tomorrow evening at the latest.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Liotrent
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@Arawak Sorry I wasn't able to get to you earlier, I was busy IRL, anyways,how should I go abut the introductory IC post that I'm supposed to PM you? Should it be in the Civ perspective or by a narrator perspective, which do you think would be better in terms of the RP aesthetically speaking?
Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Arawak
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In regards to the Eridani system as a whole I want people to keep things centered in the Gabriel Planetary system (which is also the only area you find world sin the habitable zone).

However, I will state that there's also these worlds in theory that I haven't talked about but have the state's drafted for-

Inwards

[Vulcan Belt
[Paradise
[Purgatory E
-Virgil
[Hell
-Midas
-Plato

Outwards

[Asteroid Belt
[Leviathan
-Kraken
-Charbydis E
-Scylla
-Loch
[Chroma
-Tangerine
-Verde
-Amarillo
[Mirage & Visage
[Ice Belt

E = Exotic Biosphere

Most of these worlds don't have complex biospheres and the two that do are biospheres have much stranger conditions (mainly in that they don't have water as a solvent, instead using Nitric Acid in Purgatory and Ammonnia in Charbydis).

However a fair amount may have all sorts of weird stuff that can be figured out as things go along. Ezra is really the tip of the iceberg in regards to what is out there. But are the other worlds aren't nearly as friendly as the Gabriel worlds are even if habitable pockets are sprinkled about the place.

@Liotrent
Civ perspective is preferred, as you have should have other players for the other perspectives.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Liotrent
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Alright thanks, I'll get to work on it.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Oraculum
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Apologies for the delay; some unexpected circumstances slowed my progress for a few hours. By any means, here is my application.


Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Arawak
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Repost in the OOC in the nation RP thread I set up.

It's good.

Just remember to PM me your IC-intro post for full acceptance.
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